This is what happens when language is separated from its cultural context what's up
Explearners in this video we are talking about communicative competence
now you may or may not have heard that term before but if you have chances are
it came up in the context of learning a second language because it is from the
field of second language acquisition so if you're interested in finding out more
about communicative competence then keep watching so let me ask you this can you
remember a time when you blurted out a phrase a new word from a language
textbook that you had learned in your language classroom to a native speaker
and they just stared at you with a blank stare or a quizzical expression has it
happened to you before because this is not an uncommon situation it is what
happens when language and culture are decoupled when we extract language from
it's greater cultural context if you want to communicate effectively with
people from a different culture it's not enough to just know the language it's
not enough to know the verbs the grammar the phrases you have to know more about
the bigger picture so the bigger picture is the cultural context in which that
language is grounded all of the nuances and ambiguities that reveal so much more
about that language and that culture tied to the history the literature the
pop culture the art the songs all of these amazing things that come with
culture and language together communicative competence describes how
we use language in a certain context in a given social situation and if you
remember the speaking model from Dell Hymes then you know that differ
types of interactions different participants will call for different
ways of communicating and that is related to this idea of communicative
competence in fact the person who came up with that speaking model framework in
the ethnography of communication he's a socio linguist and his name is Dell
Hymes Dell Hymes coined the phrase communicative competence and it's meant
to be an alternative to what Noam Chomsky called linguistic competence so
it's not enough to know between with six we also need to know the cultural
component and that's where communicative confidence comes in so being aware of
communicative competence and what it means is going to help you become a
better communicator in the l2 in the language that you are learning that is
different from your l1 or mother tongue right the language that we grow up
speaking our native language when we unpack a phrase in our l2 in our second
language we have to rely on what we call metalinguistic awareness metalinguistic
awareness allows us to decipher between figurative meaning and literal meaning
so there's the figurative and the literal now the figurative meaning or
the implied meaning is usually rooted in the cultural context this is why when
you're in a foreign country and you proudly display your language skills
from your textbook it's not always right chances are you're probably using it
incorrectly in the given social context because you've taken out the cultural
part and if language is taken out of that cultural context then it generally
will be misconstrued or misinterpreted that will cause a miscommunication or a
communication breakdown take an idiom for example an idiom has both a literal
meaning and the figurative or implied meaning
so if we were to just take the literal meaning from the expression we're not
really getting the meaning of the expression the idioms power just
disappears it's not apparent to us however if we understand the cultural
context in which it is coming up the history the literature references to art
or mythology then we understand the implied meaning and that is when we
understand the actual meaning of the idiom you already have communicative
competence in your l1 meaning you grew up speaking that language and you are
privy to the cultural context in which it is generated and the societal usage
right you are aware of how people actually use the language right language
is a living thing it's dynamic it's not static think about when we started using
the word Google even as a verb I'm gonna Google it right or let me Facebook you
these are words that we have as a society added to our vocabulary it is
now part of our language but you won't necessarily see that in a textbook
now would you so in your second language communicative competence is more
difficult but not impossible to get but it's more difficult because it is not
necessarily evident and it's not taught in language textbooks that comes with
cultural immersion and with spending time with the people who speak that l2
and spending time learning about the cultural heritage the history the
literature and diving deeper into the language and the culture not just
learning the language that you've separated from culture that is not how
we achieve communicative competence all right so how do you improve your
communicative competence well the best way to improve communicative competence
is through cultural immersion go to that country interact
the native speakers of that language and try your best to soak up every little
thing that you notice all of the differences and the cultural ambiguities
perhaps and questions you have about language use and expressions put all of
your antenna up and soaking in and absorbing everything new and different
and exciting and by doing so you will start to subconsciously develop your
metalinguistic awareness which is absolutely incredible so as an adult we
can do this and if you haven't already done so I suggest you watch the video
about how adults can also be really good language learners and that we have
actually a tremendous advantage so you're developing your metalinguistic
awareness by paying attention to the idiomatic expressions and paying
attention to how the language is being used and in what cultural environments
and in what conversational environments this is coming up and also pay attention
to the nonverbal gestures and the intonation these are all really great
cues into how language is used and you have that wonderful cultural context
that you're surrounded by in which the language is grounded and this is how you
increase your communicative confidence by doing so your language learning
process will also increase because now you are building your metalinguistic
awareness you are aware of actually how that language is used in society and
culture in real life in other words and this will lead to a richer immersive
experience it will also lead to more natural interactions with native
speakers and you'll start to pick up on things that you wouldn't otherwise if
you're just reading from your language textbook or just in your language class
now you have to go out and explore in the real world and you have to do the
work pay attention to the inconsistencies between what is in your
language textbook and what is around you and what is surrounding you and when you
go abroad you're not gonna isolate yourself and keep yourself in your
little bubble with your l1 speakers you want to go out and
interact with as many native speakers as you can and use the language and take
risks with a language and listen for inconsistencies with what's in your
language textbook that you learned and what is actually being said and how they
use the language that is how you're going to increase your metalinguistic
awareness and your communicative competence you're gonna pick up the
language more quickly and you will be aware of the sounds and you'll be able
to produce the sounds more accurately and your pronunciation will improve as
well suddenly things are just going to start making more sense to you and you
will find that you'll use expressions and collocations and words that just
sound right and you might not even be able to explain why that is but you know
that it just sounds right or it sounds better and so you start to develop those
native like instincts and this just catapults you into a whole new level of
language learning and only through these real world interactions with people of
your l2 will you start to understand the unspoken rules of the language based on
observations and trying to take risks with the language in that way so what I
mean by taking risks with the language is trying your best to use the phrase or
the new expression accurately but you might not always get it right at first
but you need to figure out when it is right and when you get the feedback from
the native speakers so try it out even if you make mistakes even if you are
uncertain so don't just be afraid of making mistakes with the language
because then you'll never improve and then you won't learn if that phrase is
actually supposed to be said in that context or if this expression makes
sense for talking about that situation you will never know unless you take risk
so what's my challenge for you explorers I want you to start picking up on the
inconsistency you start looking for them actively searching for these
inconsistencies that you know there's a gap between what is taught in
your language textbook and what you hear in the real world now let's say you're
not in the country of the language that you are learning that's okay now you can
probably find some videos on YouTube or you can listen to some songs in that
language find some movies films maybe some newspapers online some blogs
anything where there's this authentic material action happening so I want you
to search for the differences and you'll notice that there is actually quite a
gap you will be surprised by the number of differences so by developing this
metalinguistic awareness you will start to improve your communicative competence
and that will increase your language learning skills and you will become a
better communicator in that language that you are learning you just wait and
see alright Explearners that's it for this
video thanks for choosing to spend time with me today I hope you learned a
little bit more about communicative competence and if you want more
information about it you can check out the article I wrote which is in the
description box down below so have a look at that for some more information
and I will see you in my next video right here on Explearning. Happy Explearning!